Is the Condition of the Peasants Improving or Worsening?

Published:PravdaNo. 111, May 16, 1913.

      Signed:F..

      Published according to the Pravda text.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1977,

      Moscow,Volume 19,

      pages96-98.Translated:The Late George HannaTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2004).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Underthis heading some official ink-slinger, a
Mr. Y. P—v, published an article in the officialTorgovo-Promyshlennaya
Gazeta[1](No. 100), to prove, of course, that the peasants’
condition is improving and “undoubtedly ... is steadily progressing year
by year”.

Itis extraordinarily instructive to note that the figures quoted by
the author showthe exact opposite! This is typical proof of the
shameless lying of official writers and official newspapers!

Whatare the author’s figures? First, be it noted that he does not give
an exact source. We should not for a moment conclude, therefore, that the
official ink-slinger is quoting this unknown source at first hand, or that
he is quoting correctly.

Letus, however, for a minute suppose that he is quoting correctly.

“SomeZemstvos,” writes the author, “for instance, the
   Moscow Zemstvo, resort to questionnaires to determine whether the condition
   of the peasants is worsening or improving. The Zemstvo’s local
   correspondents provide general answers that are then summarised.“Theresult of these lengthy investigations (taking six years),”
   writes Mr. Y. P—v, “was a rather interesting numerical summary for the
   central zone. To each hundred answers of all types we get”Answers indicating the economic condition of the
	    peasants:YearImprovedWorsenedUnchangedTotal1907154441100190885339100190986428100191021344510019113216521001912381547100

“SomeZemstvos,” writes the author, “for instance, the
   Moscow Zemstvo, resort to questionnaires to determine whether the condition
   of the peasants is worsening or improving. The Zemstvo’s local
   correspondents provide general answers that are then summarised.

“Theresult of these lengthy investigations (taking six years),”
   writes Mr. Y. P—v, “was a rather interesting numerical summary for the
   central zone. To each hundred answers of all types we get”

Andso the writer in an official newspaper draws the conclusion—“in
the last three years ... we have seen a continuous improvement in the
economic level of the peasantry, with a corresponding reduction in the
percentage under the headings ‘worsened’ and ‘unchanged’.”

Examinethe figures carefully. For the first three years there was an
obvious and considerableworsening. For the last three years there
was animprovement, but to a far lesser degree than the worsening
of the first three years!

Mr.Y. P—v himself admits that these fluctuations “are coincident
with the fluctuations in harvests”.

Whydoes he take the three years with good harvests for hisgeneralconclusions andignorethe three years with bad
harvests? What would we think of a merchant who summed up the results of
his trading by showing his profit andconcealing his losses? We
should call him a swindler, should we not, Mr. Official Writer in an
official newspaper?

Nowlet us make the simple calculation of profit and loss that is
obligatory for everyone except swindlers, taking into consideration the
“minuses” as well as the “pluses”, the “bad” as well as the “good”
harvests. To do this we must add up the figures for the six years and
divide by six (amazingly clever, Mr. Official Journalist, isn’t it?). We
then get theaveragefor all the six counter-revolutionary years.

Thefigures are these. From 100 answers:

Favourable(“improved”)—20

Unfavourable(“worsened”)—38

Average(“unchanged”)—42.

Thatis the result. What does it mean?

Itmeans that thepeasants are growing poorer and being
ruined. For the six years of the counter-revolution the number of
unfavourable answers is, on the average,almost twice as greatas
the number of favourable answers!

Thisconclusion can be demonstrated clearly by applying the figures to
the whole of Russia, to 20,000,000 peasant families, as follows:

Insix years 4,000,000 peasant families haveimpovedtheir condition, 7,600,000 have grown poorer and
8,400,000families have remained at the former (i.e., impoverished) level!

Andthis is in a period of high prices when the landowners and
bourgeoisie are raking in gold by the shovelful.

Inall probability the peasants will thank and bless the landowners’
Duma and the government of the landowners.

[1]Torgovo-PromyshlennayaGazeta(Commercial and Industrial
Gazette)—government daily published in St. Petersburg from 1893 to
September 1918. The newspaper carried statistics and economic reviews of
industry, trade, agriculture and finance.